Closer

It is said that we in the world of the living are closer to the world of the dead on this night- the veil is thinnest on all hallow's eve. There sure are a lot people I miss and would like to visit with (if it didn't mean scaring me to death). I've been thinking a lot tonight about a Halloween when I was very young, maybe 3 or 4 years old. There was a party in the basement of my grandmother's house across from the Atomic in Mayfield, NY. I remember there was all the fun sensory stuff...jello brains, eyeball eggs, pasta guts... then someone came upstairs and saw that the barn behind the store across the street was on fire. My cousins and uncle raced over, but they still lost a number of animals. This is the way I recall it, unfortunately the list of folks I can ask details about this event is REALLY slim. I also remember riding in an old red Willy's jeep with my uncle and parents, sometimes, and my cousins others times. Always on dirt roads requiring 4x4 power...man it was great! That must be where my love affair with the older SUV developed- that and Mac McClarey's mustard yellow 70's era Ford Bronco. And I remember rootbeer floats and one vivid dream-like memory of a witch on a broom stick flying over the full moon out the back window above the station before it was remodeled.

Perhaps it is true about the veil being thinner tonight...memory road seems to be on my GPS.

Lucky

While listening to Jay Unger and Molly Mason, drinking a tall glass of VO and ginger ale, tending the wood fire, and settling in from an end of October night that is beating at the door with wind whipped wet leaves, I found myself envious of Jenna at Cold Antler Farm and some of her minions. She writes about her enjoyment of the simple joy of homesteading in Vermont,as well as some of the very things I just listed and I don't begrudge her that, this cusp time to winter needs all the supporters she can get, but I begrudge the innocence of it all... I realized I will never again, if I am lucky, not know the worry that comes with being a parent in this world.

We done had ourselves a weddin'...now we just got to get married!

We threw a big wedding party for our friends and family on Saturday, October 24th. Everyone had a great time (that we've heard from). Now we are fervently hoping the Equality for Marriage law holds and the referendum is defeated so we can make it legal. Not that it changes our intentions or the gravity of the commitments made before family and God on that foggy, beautiful October afternoon.

The Reinstitution of Meal Time Prayer

Tonight I suggested to HE we reinstitute our plan to have a family prayer moment before each meal for which we are gathered together. When Maisie was very young, even before she was born, we had started to read from Earth Prayers before each meal. We felt it important to instill in her a sense of gratitude and reverence for something larger and more mysterious than any of us can comprehend. We are not religious in any identified sense...yet the desire for tradition and ritual run deep. We are not Godless, but rather define our God personally and intimately; not literally and fundamentally. It is the Creator, Holy One, Goddess, God, Great Spirit...a field of infinite possibilities...kind of a lot for a toddler to take in, but we want her to have some foundation to build from as she grows. So we start here.

Of course this did come on the heels of her pouring a cup of water into a plate of hotdogs, coleslaw, baked beans and sweet potato fries with lots of dip, aka, ketchup. This as all chased by applesauce and veggie yogurt with a fruit and fiber bar.

HE questioned whether I thought prayer would improve her table manners. Decidedly, it did not.

This is what we saw tonight

The white streaks in the window is SNOW! (or nose, as Maisie says)

First haircut

Know your farmer; meet your food.

There is only one more week remaining for our CSA. It has been a lean year for some crops. If anything, I have learned more about what I want to have coming out of my own garden and have plans to have a shared and expanded patch next year.

Cinderella, Cinderella...

Classic Cinderella pumpkins...ah, Fall.

Peace and Equality

Heather's mother surprised us with a wedding shower on Sunday. The warmth and genuine love and support generated among the women gathered was the truest gift and the best tincture for any wounds wrought by those who are small minded, ignorant and unjust. A simple "Thank you" does not fully convey the enormity of meaning this community enfolding meant to me, personally, and to us as a family. The gravity of being part of a clan is paramount. I fervently hope Maisie always knows she is loved and honored and that her intrinsic and fundamental worth is never debated on a familial, legal, societal or religious stage.

Please vote NO ON ONE on November 3rd. Do the right thing.

Uh-Oh...that can't be good.

There is snow in the forecast tonight, coming in on the coat tails of a nor'easter. We just had some wood delivered and Maisie has discovered my drawer of Smartwool socks. The Snow Queen she is drawing near and I love her with all my might.

Up Against Morality: Psalm 139

As many of you may know there is a referendum coming up this November in Maine challenging a law that was passed this spring giving all people the right to marry in Maine. It is about equality.

A christian (?) led group called Stand for Marriage is leading the opposition and raised enough signatures to force a referendum vote. The gist of their fight is: gay marriage weakens traditional marriage; gay marriage will be taught in schools, a church would be required to marry anybody who asked them to do so, and homosexuality is morally abhorrent.

The only people hurting marriage, any kind of marriage, are the two people in it. My relationship in no way threatens yours and if it seems as though it does, you, as a couple, have some work to do-on your end, not mine. As for gay marriage being taught in schools-so what? More importantly, I don't think this would be the case. I was never "taught" about marriage and marriage law in school. Were you? The third point is false; there is a clause in the law that protects religious freedom and institutions can limit who they perform services for...of course the members of your relgious community would be the ones being discriminated against and may leave the fold because of it, but, hey, at least you would be protecting sanctity. And finally, this type of moral argument is abhorrent...it is a moral of HATE.

For you are fearfully and wonderfully made... Psalms 139...no matter who you are or who you LOVE.